Just like black-and-white photography can reveal depths you’ll never see in colour, the short length of a Twitter message encourages new levels of creativity and effectiveness in marketing. Don’t believe me? Here are my top tips on getting started with Twitter…and each is 140 characters or less.
If your web site has a customer feedback form, you can learn from Apple’s mistakes.
Developing an effective social media team requires more than finding the right box on the org chart or figuring out where that community moderator should sit. Here are the kinds of capabilities you need on your team.
Today’s Globe & Mail included a special supplement about MBA programs, with a feature story on why and how schools are incorporating social media into the curriculum. “Within minutes or even seconds, online chatter can span continents, conveying positive spin or the kiss of death for a product or company,” reporter Diana McLaren writes. “Business schools are adapting to the rapidly shifting relationship between companies and consumers.”
Diana spoke to me about Social Signal’s experience integrating social media into today’s businesses. (And the Globe ran my favourite, uncredited headshot — by the remarkable Kris Krug.)
Here’s what Diana included in today’s story:
Social media consultant Alexandra Samuel, co-founder of Social Signal in Vancouver, says that social media is “not just a marketing technique. It also allows a business or organization a way of monitoring for customer care.
“Social media can’t just be out there isolated in some little marketing department. You need someone to monitor and respond to what people are saying.”
The challenge for MBA schools, she says, is to “get people to think about a dramatic shift in organizations needed for social media marketing. They need less hierarchy and more communication across teams. Generally speaking, one of the first concerns for business is risk management. The reality of social media is far greater than risk. It’s about throwing a party and no one comes, there’s no response.”
…
As someone who consults with organizations on social network marketing, but also a business owner herself who hires staff, Ms. Samuel agrees about the need for more MBA graduates to offer a combination of traditional skills, such as financial management and business strategy, with an understanding of social media that makes them “billable” to clients.
“My dream hire is for an MBA with social media expertise,” she says. “Someone who comes with the whole package.”
If you’re running online contests to promote your work, you want to encourage people to participate as widely as possible. Here’s how to create a compelling and fun contest.
Establishing the ROI from your social media spend is an inexact science, but these four simple steps can help you get in the ballpark.
Contests are one way to get your Facebook app off to a strong start — but there are other options.
Think of your social media presence as a party: you’re inviting lots of pretty people (the end customers), who in turn will bring in lots of smart/rich people (your customers).
Listen. Think. Engage. These are the three steps every company should follow.
Just ten days ago, I really did have more than thirteen hundred unread messages in my inbox. But today is the eighth day of my new zero inbox lifestyle, and it’s starting to feel like it’s going to stick. I share the secret here.
Recent Comments